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Telecasters with humbuckers


Henry Path

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Given that I've got a Schecter PT tele with splittable HBs is it worth considering a different tele, with an HB and a single coil?

 

Would all I be getting "extra" - other than a new, possibly nicer guitar - is the ability to have both types of pup on at the same time? Cos I have to admit the idea of a Strat, much as they're so obvious, is getting more and more to my liking all the time...

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Why don't you set it up so that you have push/pull pots to tap each HB individually? Use the current switch to do out of phase.

 

Because I've no idea how to do it, and only a vague grasp of what you mean :D

 

I didn't know that was an option tbh.

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Ultimately, other than the above Texas Noise Factory's suggestion to allow individual coil splits, it really is all arbitrary and up to what kind of pickups and how you use them, no?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the PT has meaty, hot humbuckers that can really push an amp's front end, yet the coil splits give you a reasonably usable half of that single coil option. Both my Yamaha SG1000 and Swing T-Thru do that in very different ways yet each can sound great, all over the place. What you'd gain by having a traditional Tele-type bridge pickup and a PAF in the neck is nothing less than a huge choice of options.

 

Is a nicely airy, open and chunky vintage-wound PAF (say, 7.0k to 8.0k) going to sound more lively and woody than the PT's hums? Probably, especially if you're not a "high gain all the time" kind of guy. In the same way, There's an enormous range of single-coil bridge T-style pickups to choose from that can give you everything from chimey icepick to something coming close to resembling a brashly honking P-90. And don't get me started on what both standard Tele bridges plus the what an angled bridge pickup with a brass bottom plate could impart, over a generic, hot humbucker in the bridge.

 

In sum, if you've got an amp that suits your playing style and you know what you want in a Telecaster's 3 pickup positions, you're in a very good position to choose a pair of pickups that may give you something much more specific than what the PT can deliver. The rest is up to you.

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Thanks for that, Ultradust. Yeah, the PT's buckers are immense. I'd be in the market for a nice, versatile rock guitar from chimey, jangly cleans to hard rock stuff (not as far as metal, though, maybe Smashing Pumpkins levels of gain). Presumably there's a single-coil-only Tele (non-baseball bat necked, too) I could go to, probably a few. Just nagging me that I don't have a guitar with a trem...so maybe a Jag would be better.

 

I've watched a hell of a lot of videos lately and visited a guitar shop to try some out; the sound closest to the one in my head is the new Jaguarillo, at least on the video I've seen. They didn't have any yet in the shop I visited - the guitar that felt, looked and sounded nicest was an SG in natural burst but the neck was maybe too thick for my liking...

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I love the sound of a tele w/a BRIDGE humbucker. Neck, it's good, but imo, the tele single coil neck pickup is a thing of beauty.

 

Even w/a splittable bridge humbucker, it's kind of hard to nail that tele bridge tone w/o the real deal. I've got a tele w/a hot rails humbucker in the bridge, which sounds GREAT, but even split, it doesn't sound 100% like a "regular" tele bridge pickup... in a live gig situation it's close enough, recording though, I like having a real bridge single coil.

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Because I've no idea how to do it, and only a vague grasp of what you mean
:D

I didn't know that was an option tbh.

 

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=phase_reversal_singlecoils

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=coil_splitting

Phase reversal works regardless if yer using humbuckers or sc's

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Thanks for that, Ultradust. Yeah, the PT's buckers are immense. I'd be in the market for a nice, versatile rock guitar from chimey, jangly cleans to hard rock stuff (not as far as metal, though, maybe Smashing Pumpkins levels of gain). Presumably there's a single-coil-only Tele (non-baseball bat necked, too) I could go to, probably a few. Just nagging me that I don't have a guitar with a trem...so maybe a Jag would be better.


I've watched a hell of a lot of videos lately and visited a guitar shop to try some out; the sound closest to the one in my head is the new Jaguarillo, at least on the video I've seen. They didn't have any yet in the shop I visited - the guitar that felt, looked and sounded nicest was an SG in natural burst but the neck was maybe too thick for my liking...

 

 

A 24" scale neck and flatter break angle over the bridge like that of a Jaguarillo will definitely give you a different kind of "plunk" and sustain/chime when you play, and it's reasonable to think that you may need something far removed from a typical 25.5" hardtail for the sake of diversity in your playing. Just the same, consider why I can easily tell one of my Tele-style (I don't own a Fender Telecaster) guitars apart from another:

 

- Four very different bridges: made of aluminum, brass, or nickel-plated steel. Floating, on a fulcrum and fixed. Tremolos and hardtail.

 

- Ivory (I'm not kiddlng), cow bone, and plastic nuts.

 

- Single coil and humbucker pickup resistance ranging from 4.5k to 13.5k.

 

- Bodies in alder, alder/maple, ash, and a funny mahogany/maple/nato sandwich with burl veneer(Swing T-thru).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some impart very little noticeable effect on tone, others are rather obvious and collectively enough to clearly differentiate one guitar from another.

 

IMG_1658.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Moollon Narcis NC on loan from the man who built it.

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I have a MIM Tele Special, w/5-way switching, the neckbucker splits. It's the shiznit, extremely flexible.


19859_230277878878_6260807_n.jpg

I've got one of those, too.

 

skye.jpg

 

I also built this with a Warmoth body, AllParts neck, and some massively sexy pickups from BG-Pups.

 

redtele.jpg

 

Oh, and for something a bit different, I also have this.

 

sunny.jpg

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Are they current?

 

No, the T-60 is a dual-HB guitar made by Peavey in the late 70's-early '80's, w/each HB splttable via the tone control; after 7/10 on tone, the pup splits by reducing the second coil until it's all gone. Very useful, but I bet a lot of people who keep their tone control "cranked treble" don't even realize they're playing both pickups as single coils, and never actually hearing the HB sound.

 

Also, when both pickups are in HB mode and both on, there's an additional "out-of-phase" switch for a further tone.

 

407781_288767174514149_1973138259_n.jpg

 

One can find used ones for 3 bills or so w/hsc. A good value for a USA guitar that could survive a nuclear explosion. The natural-finish ones are often quite heavy though.

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I guess I'm wondering if the Schecter would be enough to cover Tele-type needs, even though it's not "classic" Tele-like. Which is why I'm thinking about, say, an American Deluxe Strat HSS...

 

 

I think the Schecter PT is a wonderful guitar. With the coil splits it can do a pretty convincing Tele tone. I picked one up a while ago just because I've always wanted one and it is one of the most played guitars I have. My main guitar will probably always be a Strat but the PT covers my Tele needs plus it can be a pretty in your face rock machine.

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I think the Schecter PT is a wonderful guitar. With the coil splits it can do a pretty convincing Tele tone. I picked one up a while ago just because I've always wanted one and it is one of the most played guitars I have. My main guitar will probably always be a Strat but the PT covers my Tele needs plus it can be a pretty in your face rock machine.

 

 

Yeah, mine's a 2003, pre-owned one I swapped for a guitar of mine & I've been playing it more-or-less exclusively since I got it. Neck's a bit too big for certain things, though for others esp. up the dusty end it's fabulous. Which is where the interest in a Fender Deluxe Tele or Strat comes in with the compound radius necks.

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